This is the story of someone who feels alive by a miracle, that of Emanuele Sabiucciu, a 33-year-old from Decimoputzu living in PaiPorta, in the hinterland of Valencia, recently hit by the flood , in which over 200 people died.

The evening when bad weather invaded the Spanish city, Sabiucciu, manager of an important ceramics company, escaped the fury of the water, because in a safe area of Valencia, together with his partner Raquel Nieto Biot (35) : «We left home at 5.30 pm to reach Valencia, where my girlfriend, who was five months pregnant, had to undergo an important medical exam, - Sabiucciu says - while the Canal el Poyo, right in front of our house, was gradually filling up. But never ever would we have thought that in a few hours there would be a total catastrophe ».

Sabiucciu adds: "Once the visit was over, we tried to start our car to go back to PaiPorta, but the battery had died. All of this saved our lives, along with the phone call from my partner's relatives who warned us not to move from there. Otherwise we would have been swept away by a river of water and mud ."

Only in the last few hours has the couple been able to return to PaiPorta, where a scene of death and devastation reigns: " Our house is no longer there," says Santucciu, disconsolate, "or at least only the rough structure exists with the walls now reduced to mush. The flood took everything away, even my car that is floating in the garage. But we and the creature that Raquel is holding in her womb are alive and that is what matters most ."

And while supported by her friends and relatives, they now free the rooms from the mud, the flag of the four Moors stands out on the facade of the house : "It is partly blackened by the mud - comments Sabiucciu - but it gives me strength in these days of non-stop toil , keeping me tied to our island. For the moment we will equip ourselves by living with my in-laws, who were saved because their apartment was on the third floor of a building, still here in PaiPorta. Then we will worry about rebuilding the house ".

And the aftermath of fear is not without its inconveniences: "We are alone and abandoned to ourselves while we have been waiting for the army for two days," says Sabiucciu finally. "The citizens had been warned that bad weather would arrive, but the authorities were taken aback by an enormous tragedy . Many friends are no longer here, it comforts me to know that our fellow countrymen who emigrated here for work are safe."

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